The RZ-1 is Casio's 1986 oddball masterpiece: a 12-bit PCM drum machine with a built-in sampler, and one of the cheapest ways into that crunchy, grainy 80s sampling sound. You get twelve onboard PCM drums plus four pads you can sample your own sounds into, and the moment you push the input hot, everything turns deliciously lo-fi. Producers chasing the texture of an SP-12 or SP-1200 on a budget have quietly leaned on the RZ-1 for decades. Twelve pads, an easy pattern-and-song sequencer, MIDI and individual outs make it a genuinely usable groovebox, not just a curio. Crunchy, characterful and full of attitude.

THE MODS: This one arrived circuit-bent. Somebody bolted a panel of 28 toggle switches to the top right and wired them into the guts, which on an RZ-1 usually means data-line bends: the drums and samples stutter, loop, pitch-shift and fall apart in ways Casio never signed off on. We have not powered it up yet, so we are not going to tell you what each switch does. Buy it as a stock RZ-1 with a bonus panel you get to map yourself, and if you turn up something great, tell us.

FEATURES & PROS:

• 12-Bit PCM Drums: Twelve onboard sounds (kick, snare, toms, hats, ride, crash, clap, cowbell, rim) with unmistakable 80s grit.
• Built-In Sampler: Four pads for your own samples, lo-fi and crunchy the harder you push the input.
• Sequencer Onboard: 100 patterns chained into 20 songs, simple and fast to work with.
• Individual Outputs: Separate outs for processing and mixing sounds independently.
• MIDI Equipped: In, out and thru to sync with the rest of your rig.
• Budget Texture: The cult lo-fi sampling sound without SP-1200 money.
• Circuit-Bent: A 28-switch bend panel, unmapped, unexplored, yours to figure out.

AS USED BY

• De La Soul, who built the whole of "3 Feet High and Rising" on it (with an Eventide Harmonizer)
• Prince Paul and RZA, in golden-era hip-hop
• Steve Poindexter, "Work That Mutha" (raw Chicago house)
• The Chemical Brothers and Autechre

THE WORD: Vintage Synth Explorer notes the RZ-1's electronic sound sits a little apart from the more common Roland and Linn machines, with onboard sampling and a lo-fi character that has turned up across hip-hop and house. Read more at Vintage Synth Explorer.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Model: Casio RZ-1
• Released: 1986
• Type: PCM drum machine with sampler
• Sounds: 12 PCM drum voices
• Sampling: 4 pads, around 0.8 seconds total, 12-bit
• Sequencer: 100 patterns, 20 songs
• Polyphony: 16 voices
• Outputs: stereo plus individual outs
• Connectivity: MIDI in/out/thru
• Modifications: circuit-bent, 28-switch bend panel fitted top right, function not yet tested

Further reading: S612 to S5000: Which Akai Sampler Do You Actually Want?